Salt Fix The

by Dr James DiNicolantonio

Salt Fix

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Nutrition, Food, Science, Diets, Medical

272 pages, Paperback

First published June 6, 2017

Reviews

[Kari · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've decided to emulate the author and repeat important information by re-wording it slightly.
One Nine of his sources are from Wikipedia.
He cites articles he's written at least 17 times throughout the book without disclaiming that he's citing himself.


This is completely different from what I normally read, but my mom had read it recently and it was still checked out from the library, and it looked interesting, so...

I gave up about halfway through. It's not an especially difficult read, but Dicnicolantonio repeats himself SO MUCH that after wading through the repetetive first half, I skimmed the second half and saw...more repetition.

There's some good info in here, but I can summarize it thusly (so you don't have to read it):

*Salt is actually really healthy for you. No, like, SUPER healthy.
*It's really difficult to eat so much salt your body can't deal with it.
*The upper limit prescribed by the FDA (?) is actually on the low end of how much salt you should probably be consuming every day.
*Here's a summary of how the healthiest countries in the world (Japan, France, South Korea, Scandinavia) consume a bunch of salt but have low blood pressure and very low instances of heart issues.
*A low-salt diet might reduce your blood pressure by a point or two, but it wreaks havoc with the rest of your body, so it's actually kinda terrible to do (and isn't effective).
*Sugar is actually really bad for you, and you should stop eating any. (Quote: "Get your sweet tooth hooked on just barely ripe fruit." (page 166))
*Increase your salt intake to help with a myriad of health problems.
*Here are some tips for who should increase their salt intake (basically everyone).
*Also here's an autism nod because that's popular right now.
*And in case you thought we forgot about you, low salt diets can cause obesity. You should lose weight (footnote: no indication of how or why to lose weight) and also eat more salt.
*Salt is a magic bullet that will cure you of a bunch of issues. If you have a problem, you should eat more salt so your problem will be solved.
*Eat more salt today!

Issues I had with this book (still bulleted, because why not?):
*Because this book kinda falls into the diet book category, here's a nice huge (salty?) helping of Guilt™ if you don't eat the way this doctor tells you you should.
*Dinicolantonio also tells you why your current meds are Bad for You (page 161-2--take note that if you are taking SSRIs or antipsychotics, he'll tell you that you should try other things because they worsen insulin resistance.) he also gives you a medical regimen for kicking your sugar addiction (page 116--I have no idea why this is included in his book, as you can't get these meds unless your doctor is really willing to work with you. You'd need a prescription for both of the meds he suggests.).
*He uses medical terms here and there, like he wrote it for the layperson and his editor was like 'nope, add some of those Big Fancy Medical Words back in or people won't believe this is a Medical Diet book. DO IT.')
*The low-carb diet is something he talks about all over the place in his book, but the most healthy countries he mentions over and over (Japan, S Korea, France, Scandinavia, Italy) love their carbs. Idk.
*One Several of his sources (2.54, 3.23, 3.141, 4.5, 4.7, 4.13, 7.7, 8.9, 8.17) are Wikipedia. Another is the Daily Mail (2.29).
*His online sources just have a web address, without a date accessed, a date published, a title for the page, an author, or any of the other things that are generally recommended for citations. Is this a different style of citation? If so, can I cite this guy as the reason for why my citations are just a long-ass Google Books URL?
*Also he cites himself multiple times (that's fine) without disclaiming that he's citing himself. That's kinda weird, imo. He cites himself at least 17 times and never mentions that he's citing himself once. Wouldn't it make more sense to say "I did this study, and it said X, and I also did a lit review, which supported that conclusion in three other blind studies"?

I don't doubt that there's good info here. But it's hidden under repetitive, misleading information. And this book doesn't seem to know who its audience is, which makes it a weird read.

[Gard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good science. A bit repetitive. Recap: "Eat salt when you crave it. Sugar is bad. Never eat sugar. The end."

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

To me, this book belongs on the shelf with others like The Case Against Sugar and The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet - books that look at the history behind the food and diet suggestions we've been told and unpack them by looking at the science.

The Salt Fix is a great read on this really interesting topic. It's one of those rules we think is 'obvious' and common sense - salt leads to hypertension and high blood pressure - but as DiNicolantonio goes through the history and the science it seems very clear that this is not common sense. In fact, when you look at the science it looks like the complete opposite of what we've been told! A low salt diet may lower your blood pressure by a point or two, but the effect of a low salt diet on your system can wreak even more havoc (with things like an increase in insulin, increased heart rate, compromised kidney function and more), and the effects of a low-salt diet are rarely stated by doctors.

Starting with the history of salt researchers in the early 1900's this book goes through the various main-characters and studies that led to our current low salt guidelines, and how iffy science managed to make it's way into our food guides, government guidelines and food manufacturing practices.

The main takeaway here is that salt is generally ok for you, and sugar is the main culprit behind most of our issues with health, high-blood pressure, heart disease, and obesity. If you are craving salt it probably means your body needs more of it - so go on and eat those pickles and olives! Instead of watching your salt intake, eat as much as you'd like, and watch your sugar intake instead.

The average amount of sodium we should be ingesting is around 3-6 grams per day.

(However there are some drugs and some diseases that may make you more susceptible to salt, and there are some drugs that may require you to ingest more salt than average - so please check the book for yourself, or talk to your doctor :) )

The Salt Fix does get bogged down here and there in sciency-jargon and lots of cited studies - the book seems to be aiming for something like Nina Teicholz's The Big Fat Surprise in tone, but doesn't always succeed. Teicholz is a journalist, and DiNicolantonio is not, and that is quite noticeable while reading specific chapters - especially those on history.

A must-read for anyone with high-blood pressure, or those who are interested in the history of food guides and recommendations. Highly recommended!

With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Maurício Linhares · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just like fat, salt has also been demonized as a harmful and mostly useless ingredient in our diets, worst, it's just a "condiment" so you should be fully able to live without it. Thing is, just like fat, salt is a basic building block of our body, being a part of the extracellular fluid, used in cellular metabolism, brain communication and muscle movement. It's history of being a cause of heart diseases doesn't have much actual science behind it (and today we know sugar has a much more active role in this) and low levels of sodium will actually cause heart issues (like hyponatremia), make you want to exercise less (due to the body not wanting to waste the little salt it has) and increases blood renin, aldosterone, noradrenaline, adrenaline, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels, not exactly what you'd be looking for. This book goes around the reasons why we decided to remove salt from our diet (bad science, mostly, and some Big Sugar investment, just like fat) and what you can do to get back to healthy levels of salt consumption and fight your sugar cravings.

[Peter Herrmann · Rating 1 out of 5]

His advice might be dangerous for some people. Although he correctly categorizes people as salt-resistant or salt-sensitive, he glosses over the impact of salt on the later group. He mentions (only briefly) that salt-sensitivity is due to insulin resistance. Nothing on the Internet that I can find backs up that assertion. While research clearly now shows (except for studies funded by the Sugar Industry) that fructose is poison, I think that just replacing simple sugars with salt is still dangerous for salt-sensitive people. Not that we shouldn't all cut back on the sugar. I am trying an experiment: have given up ALL simple sugars, and if after 1 month am still salt-sensitive (always have been), I'll know Dinicolantonio is wrong. BTW, I've never overdone sugar, am not insulin resistant or pre-diabetic, so I suspect I'll still be salt-resistant 1 month from now. If not, I'll be pleasantly surprised and will rewrite this review.
---------------------------- 1 MONTH LATER ---------------
Aug. 30: experiment confirms I'm still salt-sensitive. For 4 weeks I've scrupulously avoided all forms of sweeteners (e.g. sugar, honey, artificial sweeteners, dried fruit, syrup, etc, etc). I do use some fresh fruit (e.g. banana on cereal). But any salt and my blood pressure spikes. To repeat: HIS BOOK IS DANGEROUS IF YOU'RE SALT-SENSITIVE.
(I will continue to avoid sweeteners, regardless).

[Sergio · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars

Yeah, I get it.

Salt good.

Sugar Bad.

Repeat ad infinitum.

The book made some good points, had thorough research and information, and generally did an okay job.

It seemed to me like the book could have been half the length and been better though.

There were many points where it was just so repetitive and trying to present the same facts over and over, but pretending that they haven't already been mentioned.

There was also just a sense of trying way to hard to make certain connections, using very selective evidence and extrapolating from there. Also citing dubious sources to make said conclusions.

The book could definitely be trimmed down, and was pretty boring at times but I'm glad I read it and learned a thing or two in the process.

[Jill Bowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 years of reading and podcasts and I still learned from this book. Nice addition to my library.

[Aneliya Petrunova · Rating 5 out of 5]

James DiNicolantonio has written a truly revolutionary book, it has been an eyeopener for me. It is very well researched (which is a trend in the paleo/low carb community, and quite reassuring for us, readers). On the basis of the data from what seems like a ton of papers Dr. DiNicolantonio makes a very strong case for an increased salt intake for the majority of the population:

- He proves - with the help of solid evidence - that salt does not make your blood pressure rise. Indeed, even among hypertensive patients only about half are sensitive to its blood-pressure raising effects. And a low salt diet certainly does not help significantly with their condition. But restricting your salt intake to unnaturally low levels, as has been recommended to the general public for decades, can in fact be very detrimental to the health of most of us: a low salt diet stiffens your blood vessels in the short term and makes you more insulin-resistant in the long run - and this is what truly causes your blood pressure to go up eventually! And what makes you insulin-resistant in the first place - you guessed it, it's not salt, but sugar (and increased cortisol levels). Once the root cause is removed, i.e. once you normalize your blood sugar/insulin/cortisol levels, salt will no longer have any influence on your blood pressure, even if it did before.

- What is more, a low salt diet can deprive you of the iodine your thyroid needs, since iodized salt is one of the main sources of this mineral for most people. And without iodine you can't make thyroid hormone and you become hypothyroid - definitely not a good thing, believe me, I speak from experience.

- Besides, even though your body can certainly adjust to a low salt intake, this is not an optimal situation for it - in fact, this is an emergency mode that the body does not thrive in and eventually you end up with another modern condition - adrenal fatigue.

- Low salt diets are not good for pregnant women either - they can make them more prone to preeclampsia (yes, a higher salt intake gets rid of that high blood pressure, this has been proven), and what is even worse - their baby becomes programmed for insulin resistance - not a nice inheritance to pass on to your child, don't you think?

- Also, people with kidney disease can benefit from eating more salt.

- The same is true of women who are trying to conceive.

- Athletes need more salt, too, if they want to stay optimally hydrated.

- So do arthritis patients, because the cartilage of our joints needs sodium.

- Another horrible effect of low-salt diets is that they make you more prone to addiction - to heroin, cocaine, sugar - you name it.

- One population segment that would really benefit from increasing their salt intake are low-carb/paleo eaters, because sodium is easily wasted when your insulin levels go down. Yes, they have been advised to do so for several years, but I am sure many of them have simply been too scared of salt to eat more of it.

James DiNicolantonio presents ample evidence to prove the points above and his recommendation is quite simple: eat more salt and less sugar, if you want to be healthy. Salt has long been demonized just like fat in general and saturated fat in particular, but we are salty creatures - there's no denying that, once you have read DiNicolantonio's book. You probably don't believe me now, but do read the book, you won't regret it (and your body will thank you). Yes, he does warn his readers that a small group of people with specific health conditions may not benefit from increasing their salt intake. But most of us probably will.

[Carol Bakker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's another book worth reading if you are a bit skeptical about what we've been told about sugar, fat, and salt in the last forty years. What is true?

Some things to consider:

Salt is vital to reproductive functions.
The three countries with the lowest rate of coronary disease (Japan, France, South Korea) eat a high salt diet.
Hypertension should be regarded as a *metabolic* disorder.
Increasing salt intake may help improve insulin sensitivity.
Consuming caffeinated beverages puts one at risk for salt depletion.
Use high-nutrient salts (Redmond, celtic sea salt, Himalayan salt, etc.)

DiNicolantonio condenses his message into four words: cut sugar, celebrate salt.

I read Homer's Odyssey at the same time I read this book, and enjoyed noticing the references to salt in it!

[Ira McIntosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was definitely a book to take with a *grain of salt*... While it appears to be well-researched and is pretty accessible, it was not brief or concise. I ended up skimming most of the book, getting the gist and moving on. The biggest point is that salt doesn’t cause hypertension. Got it. Sugar does. Okay. Primitive people survived solely because of comsuming salty insects.... uhh what?

I did not find any references to sole water that is promoted on the dr’s social media - supposedly a recipe from this book?

I get that every Dr wants to make their point when doing research, and while overall this book is valuable in our low-sodium world, it seems to claim too much merit by making salt sound like a cure-all.

[Aline]

I only read ~ 30% of it in total.
After about 27% it got soo repetitive and I skimmed through the rest. Mostly just read the headlines of the chapters and that was sufficient.

But it did convince me to eat more salt again 🤔😄

[Agnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Salt does NOT raise blood pressure. It's a myth created by sugar companies and government. Why? Read the book.

[Steve Mayet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had it wrong all along.

[Robin Tobin (On the back porch reading) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hum very interesting... This has a ton of studies and research to back the author/doctors claim... I am now enjoying a tad more salt without the guilt and worry.

[Kerstin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pass the salt shaker!
You can survive without ever eating a grain of sugar again, but you won't survive long without salt. Dr. DiNicolantonio goes into quite some detail, meticulously describing the absolutely essential role sufficient salt intake plays to keep our bodies healthy.

[Monika · Rating 2 out of 5]

A more detailed review resides inside my head (and in the many many scribbles I left in my copy of this book) but essentially:
- Once again sugar shown to be bad
- Once again people using something as a scapegoat for sugar
- some parts of this book were pretty good and I enjoyed reading them
- some parts of this books (ahem. Chapter 7) were really really awful: completely all over the place, contradictory, missing the point, not giving me the information/detail on important studies that I was craving, superfluous repetition everywhere. Very disappointing.

But I shall continue to eat my salt and THAT is what really counts ☺️

[Michael Alligood · Rating 3 out of 5]

T Book Review: The Salt Fix by Dr. James DiNicolantonio

I found The Salt Fix to be an insightful and provocative read, especially in its opening chapters. The first four chapters move quickly, delivering fascinating ideas about salt’s misunderstood role in health. Dr. DiNicolantonio presents a solid case early on, challenging conventional wisdom and providing a fresh perspective that keeps you turning the pages.

However, the book starts to lose some of its momentum around Chapter 3. While dense and at times redundant, I understand why it was necessary—laying down the scientific foundation to support his broader argument. Still, a bit more editing there wouldn’t have hurt.

Things get trickier by the time you hit Chapter 5. This is where I began noticing a subtle shift: the writing starts to infer stronger conclusions than what the cited studies actually support. While the earlier chapters felt tight and well-evidenced, the later ones lean heavier on implication, with less clear-cut support. This becomes more apparent in Chapter 6, where much of the evidence he references comes from Wistar rat studies—something that wasn’t made immediately clear in the build-up. By then, the human implications feel overstated, and frankly, Chapter 8 could almost be skipped entirely without losing much value.

Overall, The Salt Fix is worth reading for its early insights and for encouraging critical thinking about salt’s place in our diets. But it does require some discernment from the reader, especially as the book progresses and the line between robust evidence and bold inference starts to blur. And by the end of Chapter 7, you’d have a firm understanding that increased salt is cure-all. It was a disappointing ending to an otherwise strong start.

[Sandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

When exploring how little scientific evidence backs the salt blood pressure hypothesis, I was appalled. Some dogma just won't die. The effect of a low salt diet on blood pressure is almost nonexistent and makes you feel like shit to boot. It lowers systolic BP by less than 1 mmHg, less than that diastolic. It does next to nothing.

It is actually sugar that causes high blood pressure by causing insulin resistance and increased insulin. High levels of insulin cause knock on effects in the kidneys that cause high blood pressure. TL;DR of this book: consume salt to taste, stop the high sugar diet, stop the prediabetes, fix your blood pressure.

Totally changed my view on salt and gave credence to my lived experience that a low salt diet is garbage and makes you feel like garbage. I would get super dizzy and be near dead after even mild workouts and that essentially went away with a higher salt intake. YMMV but personally, I will never go back. Why would I??

Thank you Dinicolantonio for writing this book. You made my daily life approximately 1000% better.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Salt Fix is a (somewhat infuriating) look at why we’ve been told to curtail our salt intake and why that is wrong. (Its infuriating to realize how sloppy and often fraudulent the “science” behind this very consequential recommendation has been.) There’s a strong focus on that history and the ill effects of cutting salt while increasing sugar, which is interesting, but I’d like to know more about the positive effects of increasing salt intake. Of course that is talked about, but I’d love to go more in depth in that area. I will be listening to the other books by Dr. DiNicolantonio.

[Jeurin Sosa Duran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy bueno. El escritor es farmacéutico, aveces se puede meter muy profundo en bioquímica, quizá no sea para todo el mundo.

-Las dietas bajas en sodio no son sostenibles
-Las recomendaciones de estas dietas están basadas en estudios mal elebaorados y desactualizados
-El cuerpo está mejor equipado para manejar excesos de sodio que déficits.
-Se han enfocado en la sal restándole importancia al azúcar que no es esencial y produce máyores efectos en los sistemas de regulación de energía del cuerpo.

[Mariah Cassity · Rating 4 out of 5]

“What’s clear is that we have been focusing on the wrong white crystal all along. We demonized sodium before we had the evidence. And our health has been paying the price ever since”. (pg. 11) This couldn’t have been more true.

I’ve always wondered how salt can truly be so bad when I’ve learned in university that sodium is involved in a lot of processes in the human body that are crucial to sustaining life (ie. the action potential in every nerve). This book is very informative about the benefits of adding salt and how to select a good quality source. We have so many things to unlearn about what the “experts” say is good for us versus what is actually good for us. Salt is good for us! Highly recommended.

[Evan Nordquist · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. 4 stars for the information. 3 stars for the repetition. The book should have been half as long as it was.

- Your body needs salt for countless functions.
- Sugar is the white crystal you should try to avoid.
- Eating half of the guideline for salt does more damage to the body than eating twice the guideline for salt.
- Healthy kidneys can excrete away excess salt with no problem up to about 8-10X the daily dose.
- Any lower than the daily dose, and heart rate increases 5-10%, which is a more serious problem than 1 point of blood pressure raised from eating 4x the daily dose of salt.

- Interesting parts were that when the salt guidelines where put in place (by the sugar industry), they were lower than they are today, but a few scientists had to politely raise their hands and say (I'm paraphrasing wildly here) that at that low dose of salt, vast swathes of people will not be getting the minimum dose of iodine to stay healthy. So the daily sodium limit was increased (to meet the minimum required for iodine, not for the body's recommended intake for sodium. That would be about 1.5-2x the current daily dose. Athletes or people sweating a lot would need a bit more to replace salt lost through sweat.

In conclusion. Don't fear the salt shaker.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the topic of this book and I think this is groundbreaking research that should be studied more, but (you knew there was a "but" coming) the book is so repetitive. Every chapter felt like the one before it, but just worded differently. I think this would have made a better magazine article or research paper as opposed to a whole book. Regardless, the book had some excellent information and was an easy and understandable read.

I am excited to incorporate salt into my training as I am currently prepping for a half marathon next month.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m fine with the message: salt is good. Because my mind always attaches to motherhood now, the biggest offense was the study that fed 4 tsp a day of salt to pregnant women at risk of developing pre-e and finding that they went to term no problem and resolved blood volume and blood pressure problems by eating high salt. I’ve developed high blood pressure in pregnancy and never once did anyone suggest I ingest more salt, which would have been so much easier than spending 30 hours hanging out in labor and delivery over 2 weeks for no reason.

I found the portions commenting on what to eat, like fruits and vegetables, to be unnecessary.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the recommended books I came upon in my keto/carb/sugar reading. It is a lot to wrap my mind around. It is the exact opposite of what I have been told my whole life -- even by my friend's father, who is a doctor. (When I was a teenager, he was the first person to really explain to me about the dangers of salt. Also, the dangers of too much caffeine during pregnancy, which is why I didn't partake both times I was pregnant.) It is logical to assume that sugar is bad. Look what it does to your teeth. To then say that salt is good -- it defies logic. I also found that a lot of numbers and big words were thrown at me in this book. I am not a numbers gal. It might not have helped that while I was reading this, we have been preparing to go back to work. I have been reading back-to-work manuals from the Nova Scotia Dental Assoc. -- and I do mean plural. There is the newest and longest sitting in my inbox while I type this. In saying all that, I may not have had my whole head wrapped around this book as part of my head is preoccupied with work and how that is going to go. While I know that we have all the necessary precautions in place to keep everyone safe, it is difficult knowing I work where there is the highest risk of infection.

I continue my reading journey.

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book on how salt is actually important in our diets. It has lots of research sometimes repetitive, but I think is very valuable. I wonder if the lack of salt has something to do with athletes dropping dead during a run. This was not said in the book, it's just a thought that came up in my head. But you lose quite a bit of salt when sweating heavily. Anyways, I think its a great education, I even looked at my sodium level from my last blood test. Great advice, great book.

[Rich And · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great to make you more aware of your salt intake and how important it is in relation to athletic performance and health. However when it comes to obesity simply blaming ‘sugar’ seems a bit shortsighted from the writer especially if you’ve read a book like the hungry brain. Ultimately ‘both’ salt and sugar are just components in a larger and more complex interplay of factors that contribute to health and better performance. But salt is definitely a good factor to be aware of.

[Talie Sanchez]

Overrall changed my perspective on the importance of salt and was definitely worth reading.
I think some of the parts of the book were a bit repetitive but I think that is the point he was making to stress the importance

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eat more salt. Eat less sugar. ✔️✔️

Quote to remember:
"Telling someone to restrict their salt intake is akin to telling someone to restrict their water intake when they are thirsty."

[Jeff Broseh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book. It did get kind of redundant after a while as a lot of the key points were "eat more salt" 😂